Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020) ***1/2

Imagine if you discovered that most Europeans had no idea what the Superbowl was. That's almost the situation with the Eurovision Song Contest, the annual music competition where each European country submits their best artist and new song. I would venture to say that everyone in Europe is at least aware each year that Eurovision is going on, even if they don't watch. Here in America, most people have never heard of it.

The contest is bombastic, ridiculous, and sometimes actually good. Almost everyone sings in English, which is the shared language of the continent. Most of the songs are of the poppy, disco variety, but you get the occasional outlier, like Finland's 2006 winner “Hard Rock Hallelujah,” or 2019's S&M-punk entry from Iceland, “Hatrio Mun Sigra,” which featured another rare element, singing in their native tongue. The countries vote on each other's songs, bringing in all the political overtones you might imagine, with former Eastern Block countries voting for each other, and so forth. In its trashy, showy glitz, the show at its worst is like a bunch of rich Serbians starting a dumpster fire outside a strip club. At its best, the show gives Europeans a chance to put aside their differences to celebrate the occasional real talent, and it has featured some iconic social statements, as when Austria's Conchita Wurst won in 2014, performing in bearded drag.

Will Ferrell is one of the minority of Americans who knows and loves Eurovision, and “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” is his love letter to the show. Ferrell plays Lars, an Icelandic singer whose lifelong passion is to make it to Eurovision. He and his childhood friend, Sigrit (Rachel McAdams) form the band Fire Saga, writing and performing songs in their tiny fishing village to a mostly-unappreciative audience. This includes Lars's father (Pierce Brosnan), a gruff, ridiculously-handsome fisherman who disapproves of his son's ambitions. Fire Saga luck their way into representing Iceland at the big show, where they meet a variety of bombastic Eurovision types, including a handsome Russian (Dan Stevens) who tries to woo Sigrit.

This is must-see-TV for Eurovision fans. If that's you, you have probably already watched it on Netflix, where it was released straight-to-streaming because of the Covid pandemic. If that's not you, I'd say it's possible to enjoy this simply as a fun, romantic comedy, but a lot of the jokes will seem mystifying.

The story is typical rom-com silliness, but Farrell and McAdams have enough talent and chemistry to carry it off, even with their dubious Icelandic accents. Ultimately, the point of the film is to celebrate and gently poke fun at Eurovision, and it's full of Easter Eggs for Eurovision fans, as well as cameos from a bunch of former winners. At one point, all the contestants engage in a giant song medley that is as ridiculous, un-self-conscious, and fun as Eurovision itself.

3.5 stars out of 5